


Etheria

by emrson



Category: Original Work
Genre: Dark Magic, Elemental Magic, Magic, Magic-Users, Multi, Original Character(s), Revolution, Violence, War
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-17
Updated: 2020-07-04
Packaged: 2021-03-03 19:14:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 14
Words: 15,618
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24770671
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/emrson/pseuds/emrson
Summary: This is the story of a boy named Zurah, on a quest to find out where his parents are, and what happend to them.
Kudos: 4





	1. The Lure of Adventure

Chapter 1  
The Lure of Adventure -  
It’s just another day in the village of Bridesvein, miners doing their job in the nearby cave, farmers tilling the soil for the summer harvest… Then there’s Zurah. Oversleeping again like usual.  
“HEY ZURAH! WAKE UP ALREADY GOD DAMN IT!!”  
Zurah slowly opens his eyes as he hears the village elder just outside his house, screaming at him, again.  
“IM SORRY GRAMPS, ITS NOT MY FAULT I CAN’T WAKE UP ON TIME”  
“THIS IS THE LAST TIME YOU’LL BE OVERSLEEPING, BECAUSE THE NEXT TIME YOU OVERSLEEP, YOU AREN’T GETTING FOOD FOR THE ENTIRE DAY!”  
“OKAY FINE GRAMPS I’LL TRY NOT OVERSLEEPING NEXT TIME OKAY??!”  
And so after arguing with the Village Elder, he decided to get out of the house and wander near the village's borders, he found a log and sat on it, thinking, ‘Where are they?’, ‘What happened to them?’, ‘Why did they leave me?’. He sat there for hours upon hours thinking of the same questions. He’d do this every time he didn’t have anything to do for the village.  
So then after a very long time of wandering, he decided to speak with the Village Elder and asked. “Where are they? Where are my parents? Do you have any idea where they are gramps??” The Village Elder replied, “I don’t know son, they left without leaving a trail. Son, I think it’s better off if you go look for them yourself, experience the outside world, and get out of that filthy room of yours. You won’t have any luck just by asking around the village-folks and travelers passing by.” Zurah replied, “I don’t even know what's out there, and I don’t even think I have the proper equipment. I’m scared, scared that maybe I’m not strong enough for the outside world, I don’t even know where to start, gramps”  
“Son, is your lack of knowledge gonna stop you from finding your parents? Because if it does, then why even bother finding them in the first place.”  
Suddenly, a person knocked on the door, it was the village’s blacksmith, “Sorry for the interruption, But I have the brand new equipment that you requested, I overheard your conversation about you not having the proper equipment to travel fortunately for you I am the best blacksmith around these parts, so visit my place anytime you’re free and we’ll talk more about in detail.”  
“THIS IS THE PERFECT OPPORTUNITY FOR YOU ZURAH!! With this, you can finally answer the questions you’ve been asking me about, so be determined and trust your instincts, there are travelers out there traveling alone, so make friends with other people and most importantly enjoy the journey.”  
And so Zurah made his way to the blacksmith to collect the necessary equipment he needed for his journey.  
"And thus I embark on a journey to finally meet my parents and find answers to my question, or that's what should've happened, why am I getting captured with these people, I didn't even do jack shit,"  
A boy who looks to be the same age as I am, no, maybe even younger from across the carriage spoke up  
"And who are you supposed to be, talking all this shit huh?"  
"All I'm saying is that I'm not involved in all the...wait what are guys even doing?" Zurah asked as if he knew nothing about the outside world.  
The man next to him suddenly burst out in laughter, echoing across the carriage  
“This boy must be joking, Is it not obvious? We were protecting this village, we are hired mercenaries!”  
"Hired what now?? Well anyway, since I got dragged here by your actions... I need an apology in the form of an escape."  
"Escape you say? Ah, it would be hard in this small carriage."  
All of a sudden, it seemed like he had accepted his fate, of ending up in a rotting prison cell.  
"Wait... brother, we’re giving up? This isn't what I agreed to"  
As the boy was about to beg and plead I interrupted  
"No.. more like he's already got a plan… do you?, If so, please allow me to help you with this escape then, sir….?"  
A sudden stare or silence…  
"So, are you going to continue or what?"  
"Wait, you actually don't know me?" Both the man and the boy were shocked, maybe a tad bit too shocked. It's getting on my nerves. I can't have these people keep messing with me.  
"Okay Fine, I may be.. live in total isolation from the outside world, so can you tell me your names now?"  
"Heh, glad ya ask the name is Kemuri, Kemuri Aikawa, The boy next to me here is my brother, Akari Aikawa.”  
-END of Chapter 1-


	2. Aikawa Brothers

After getting to know each other more Kemuri told Zurah the plan of escape.  
“We’re going to use magic-” Zurah interrupted them and asked, “What’s magic?” Akari suddenly burst out in laughter  
“You don’t even know what magic is and you’re traveling?’’ “Anyways Akari stop with the jokes, wanna get out of here or not.”   
Akari explained to Zurah what magic is  
“Basically magic is the life force that flows through everyone, all of us are born with magic. But only some can manifest it. There are six main elements, Fire, Water, Air, Earth, Dark, and Light. Usually, people are born with a primary element and a secondary, but there are also people with “Pure elements” that only have one element, we call it ‘Pure’ because it’s normally stronger than the usual element. There are also ‘Fusion Elements’ where you can combine your primary element and secondary to create a new element, a good example of this would be with my brother, Kemuri. His primary element is fire, and his secondary is air. If he combines it, he can make the smoke element. Now, after we escape and find a place to lay low, we can conduct a test that can determine your primary and secondary elements. It’s call-”  
Kemuri interrupts his brother, in a rather hurried manner.  
“Akari let's talk about that later, we’re running out of time. I’ll melt our shackles, Akari, you’re gonna use your magic to make painted copies of us running away and bait the bandits then, I’ll use my smoke magic to blind them. It’ll buy us some time to push the driver off the carriage and make a run for it.”  
“Zurah if this goes well you’ll finally get the sweet taste of freedom that you’ve been begging for. So how do you like the idea of traveling? Fun isn’t it?”  
Zurah replied in a determined manner  
“I’ll do whatever it takes to find my parents. They've always left me behind, this is my only chance to catch up, I can’t turn back now.”  
“Okay brother, the painted copies are ready”  
“Akari, on my mark, makes those copies run towards that tree. That should buy us some time, we’ll wait till after they take the bait and then go for the guy that’s driving this carriage”

Akari uses his ink magic to make the painted copies of themselves that have been brought to life to run towards the tree, luring in the bandits into their trap to escape. While the bandits are being lured to the tree, Zurah slowly makes his way on top of the carriage, while Kemuri is busy trying to blind the bandits with his smoke magic.  
“AKARI HOW LONG UNTIL THE COPIES OF US DISAPPEAR?!!” Kemuri shouted  
“I can’t keep them alive long enough if you keep on shouting!!”  
“I PUSHED HIM OFF, LETS GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE”   
Zurah shouted to Akari and Kemuri.  
“Man, I thought I was gonna die,” Akari says in a relieved manner.  
“Zurah let me drive, I know these parts more than you”  
Akari suddenly shouts.-  
“THEY’RE COMING, KEMURI THEY’RE GETTING CLOSER!!”  
Kemuri suddenly shouts in annoyance  
“These damn bandits so fucking persistent.”  
“Go help Akari in the carriage”  
“How?” Zurah asked  
“I don’t know, maybe throw some of the bandit’s luggage so we could lose some weight, hurry cause we’re running out of fucking time!”  
Zurah rushed, standing on top of the carriage to help Akari. But with his own eyes he was shocked, the bandits were already grabbing onto Akari’s leg. While the bandits are shooting the carriage with arrows infused with fire magic.   
“ZURAH HELP!! PLEASE!!”  
Akari shouts.  
Zurah doesn't know what to do, trembling in fear, Zurah is at his wits’ end.   
“Fuck it.”  
At that moment, Zurah decided to be selfless, and let go of his fears of getting hurt or being in grave danger. He decided to sacrifice himself, rather than let a person die in front of him.  
Zurah rushed over to Akari’s aid, it seemed like he wouldn’t make it in time to help him, but, at that exact moment, for a few seconds there was a faint of light magic manifesting inside Zurah  
"What the-?"  
A sudden blinding light came out from Zurah, blinding the bandits, it also somewhat blinded Akari. Blinded, the bandits let go of akari’s leg and were stunned by the bright light.  
“Shit I can barely see, at least please control it next time.”  
As Akari complains about Zurah, Kemuri interrupts.  
"Good thing he saved you, if it weren’t for him you could have died so stop complaining.”  
Akari sighs   
“Thanks… I guess we know what your element is now.”  
Zurah looked shocked and speechless; it was his first time using magic.  
“What just happened? was that magic?, how did I..?”  
“Wait... so you’re saying you did that by accident? And not on purpose?”   
Kemuri suddenly says. “I ain’t surprised since you don’t know shit about magic yet, I might as well teach you, but it ain’t free..”  
“What do you mean? like money?”  
“How ‘bout you join us, try being a hired merc, you could earn some money, while at the same time getting combat experience for yourself. Akari can teach you a thing or two about magic as well.”  
“Are we really gonna let a stranger join us?”  
“If you really are gonna save your parents how are you gonna do it without knowing jack shit about magic, we won't insure your safety but you can trust our word and we can start on that.”  
-END of Chapter 2-


	3. The town of Hearcairn

It was a long ride from Calewich to Hearcairn; Akari and Kemuri’s hometown. On the way to Hearcairn, Zurah admired how modern the town is, Stone buildings, a lot of merchants selling their goods, and a huge Castle in the middle   
Zurah asked, “What’s that big stone thing in the middle of the village Akari?”  
“Oh, that's just the village headquarters, there's nothing special inside. Just a bunch of idiots taking money from the village for themselves.”  
Moments later -  
Kemuri shouted “We’re here. Wake up!”   
“Anyways, Zurah, this is our home! Pretty good isn’t it? I'll take you for a tour around the village later, we should probably get some rest first, it's been way too long since I had a proper nap on a nice warm bed.”  
“Are you guys sure it’s okay for me to stay?”  
“Yeah, of course, it is Zurah, you saved my Lil’ brothers life after all.”  
“Okay then, if you say so. Thanks again, Kemuri, Akari!”  
Kemuri nods and smiles, as he leaves the room and shuts the door.  
The next day.. -   
Zurah slowly wakes up to hear Kemuri shouting outside his room,  
“HEY! ZURAH! I THINK WE GOT A JOB NOW!! WAKE UP AND GET YOUR ASS OUT NOW”  
“OKAY, JUST WAIT LET ME CHANGE TAKE A SHOWER AND CHANGE MY CLOTHES FIRST!”  
“OKAY BUT MEET ME OUTSIDE OF THE HOUSE!”  
“OKAY!”  
When he hears Kemuri leave he lets out a big sigh, saying:  
“Just like home..”  
After taking a shower and changing his clothes, Zurah leaves the house, to see Kemuri and Akari reading the newspaper while waiting for him.  
“Hey Zurah, you read the newspaper yet..?”  
“..No, not yet... Why?”  
“Well, apparently tensions are rising between the Gatharian Empire and the Efranhan Empire... They’re saying there might be a war in the near future..”  
“Brother, why do you have to be worried about those two nations? We are on the other side of the continent, it doesn’t even matter who wins the war or not.”  
Kemuri folds the newspaper and puts it back into his back, then says to Akari:  
“It’s not about who wins the war, it’s about what happens during, and after the war. Think about all of the people who sacrificed their lives for their country, just for it to be in vain. Think about what the country that wins the war could do to the locals, they could enslave them if they wanted to, or even worse, kill them. That is why we should be worried.”  
They all fall silent, not because they were wrong, but because what he was saying is true.  
“Well, anyway back to the matter at hand. There have been rumors of an assassin working for the Iron Dawn lurking in the woods near the village.”  
“If you don’t mind me asking, who are the Iron Dawn, or what are they even?”  
“Oh wow Zurah, don’t you folk have newspapers wherever you’re from..?”  
“Well....”  
He smiles and nods no with his head   
“Do you really not read the newspaper… Well, anyway...The Iron Dawn is a bandit group that apparently secretly runs Dogronland in the shadows, and the goons we got captured by, they might be part of the Iron Dawn.  
“How do you know that the bandits we got captured by, might be part of the Iron Dawn Kemuri?”  
“When you pushed the carriage driver out, He had a grey phoenix necklace, that’s the symbol of a low ranking member within the Iron Dawn.”  
“How do you know all of this..?” He’d ask in a worried tone  
“Let me tell you a little bit of my past Zurah, Back then, I was a part of the Dogronland military, I was forced to do unspeakable things. And when I refused, I’d get punished for it, until one day I overheard my superiors, they were talking about an assassination plan, on ME... So I did the only thing I could do back then, which was to resign and lay low.”  
Kemuri would let out a deep sigh of relief. Relief that he had finally found someone, other than his brother that he can trust.  
“Alright, that's enough story-telling for now, we need to head over to some of the villagers that had heard rumors of this.”  
And so, they made their way over to each of the villagers’ houses, and they’d all say the same thing:  
“I… don’t know what you're talking about…”  
Until they reached the house of a father who lost his wife, and children to the Iron Dawn.  
“The rumors are true. I’ve seen him pass by quite a few times, forgive the other villagers for not saying anything, they were just scared, scared that maybe you’d be the next batch of people who would die to him.”  
“There were others?”  
The father nodded at Kemuri while saying;  
“I’m sure of it, they didn’t return to the village anyway, so they’re most likely dead.”  
“Well, trust me. We’re not like those fools.”  
The man sighed, saying “Yeah, that’s what the last batch said to me. They didn't return.”  
“Thanks for the information, sir.”  
“Mhm.”  
They leave the premises and go back to their house, and when they reached the house, they discussed their plan on how to capture the man, and if needed, kill him.  
“Since the old man mentioned others that tried to capture him, we should be cautious, and assume that he uses intense magic, maybe even fusion elements. Zurah, we’ll stay in this town for a week, to teach you how to use magic properly.”  
Ask Akari what your training schedule will be. But for now, you should probably get some rest, his training schedules are quite- nevermind.”  
“...Quite what?”   
“See for yourself Zurah.”  
“Wow, okay then, Where’s Akari by the way?”  
“He’s by the training field, near the house.”  
“Okay, thanks!”  
Zurah headed over to see Akari by the training field and ask him on what his training schedule is, when he arrived, he sees Akari training with his daggers. Zurah looks over at awe on how accurate he throws his daggers, and how he infuses his ink magic to the tip of his blade  
“Oh, hey Zurah. Didn’t see you there, what's up?”  
“I just wanted to know what my training schedule for the week would be, so I could at least prepare for it.”  
“Oh, okay... Well, first of all, I’m gonna need to teach you what magic is. Then I’ll teach you the basics of how to manifest your magic into the palm of your hands, then once you get the hang of that I’ll teach you how to infuse your magic into a weapon. We’ll be doing that for 12 hours every day, with 1-hour breaks when we’re done with one.”  
“Jesus Christ, I don’t think I can last that long Akari…”  
“Don’t worry about it, you can do it!!” He says with a big smile on his face  
“..Okay then, I’ll head back over to the house and take a nap.”  
“Okay, see you here tomorrow again then.” He says as he and Zurah wave good-bye to each other.  
-END of Chapter 3-


	4. Magic Training

The next day after a long hard time of training for magic, Zurah finally gets the hang of it.  
“How’s that Akari, like the taste of light magic?”  
“Zurah, I'm not even trying, I’ve only been drawing stick-men. The next part is to fuse your magic with an item, like mine I fused mine with my paintbrush so it's easier for me to control.”  
“How do I know which item to infuse my magic with?”  
“I don’t know, just start out with anything and see what fits your magic best.”  
Kemuri comes out of the house and sarcastically says - “A flashlight is perfect for you!”  
“SHUT UP!!”  
“How’s the training going by the way?”  
“It’s going great! I didn’t expect a midget like him to teach me all this stuff about magic!”  
“HEY WHO YOU CALLING A MIDGET”  
Akari makes 10 ink stick-men that chase Zurah for calling him a midget  
“HEY STOP STOP IT WAS A JOKE IT WAS A JOKE STOP I’M SORRY AKARI!!!”  
While the stickmen chase Zurah, Akari heads over to Kemuri to discuss his progress.  
“Well, what do you think of him, Akari?”  
“He’s got a lot of potential, especially with his primary magic being Light, and his secondary being Fire.”  
“What's his fusion element then?”  
“Uhm…. You see, we still don’t know yet.”  
“What??! Why not?”  
“It’s hard getting him to make his fusion element, but I think he just needs more time.”  
“Akari, we don’t have any more time. All we have is this week, if we extend it further the assassin might suspect us and move away to another village, and we’d have to fucking search for him all over again. Now tell me, do you want that?”  
“...No.”  
“Good.”  
Akari walks back towards Zurah who stopped getting chased by the sick-men.  
Zurah looks at Akari, rather aggressively while saying;  
“HEY WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU MAN IT WAS A JOKE”  
“Mhm. Now, let’s continue training.”  
“Okay then.”  
The days passed by, rather slowly, as Akari continued training Zurah in the ways of magic and magic infusion. Akari has been noticing Zurah’s rapid improvement with magic. When the end of the week came, Akari thought he was ready.  
“Alright, I believe you’re good enough now, let’s head over to Kemuri so we can actually start finding where the assassin is.”  
And so, they head on back to the house, where Kemuri is, with a map of the surrounding area, covered by the thick forest that protects the town of Hearcairn from bandits, and looters.  
“Alright, Akari, Zurah, get your weapons and equipment ready, we’re about to capture this shithead. Since you’ll be needing a weapon, come with me Zurah.”  
Kemuri leads Zurah to their storage room, where they keep scrolls, weapons, and a bit of food.  
“Go ahead Zurah, pick any weapon that you see fits you.”  
Zurah goes deeper into the room, inspecting any weapon he sees that looks interesting to him, till he comes across an ominous-looking glaive, with white, almost ancient designs.  
“Can I use this one?”  
“Oh. The glaive is your choice eh? Go ahead then.”  
He inspects the glaive and senses an ominous presence, so he looks around the room, only to not find where the ominous presence is coming from.  
“Alright, let's head out, I’ll lead the way.  
And so, they leave the house, and go on the hunt, for the assassin working for the Iron Dawn.  
-END of Chapter 4-


	5. The Hunters

Nature, A wonderful place to find peace, It’s just so quiet, and it’s somehow calming, the pure ambiance can be enough to make you fall asleep. Yes... Nothing can beat the sudden dash of wind, the screams of someone yelling stop, blades and magic being tossed around everywhere. Very much your peaceful everyday type of forest.  
“Hey! Stop! We just wanted to talk”, Shouted by the out of breath Zurah “Talk? Yeah right, how about you tell your friends to, oh I don’t know, NOT to tie me up!?”   
“Come on, we know you're a member so why not TIE you up? I mean you're a bad guy right?” The assassin threw her blades, Zurah and Kemuri managing to just barely dodge “How can you assume I’m the bad guy?”,  
“It's already clear because you are running away from us”   
Said Zurah being proud that he himself drew that conclusion.   
“Well dismiss what this dimwit said, we only found out because we saw your crest, That crest of yours belongs to the Iron Dawn”   
“Tsk, well fuck me and my carelessness” The assassin whispers to herself  
“Well try to find a way to stop me then, After all, I’m an assassin and almost nothing ca-”   
The assassin stops, as Kemuri is suddenly seen falling down to them. The assassin dodges and jumps behind Zurah and Akari, then proceeds to throw knives, but It only scratches the armor of Akari and the ear of Zurah. As Kemuri was about to stand, a wave of fog suddenly appeared thus enabling the assassin to escape.   
“Damn, She got away.” Kemuri sighs  
“So that’s her magic, very fitting for an assassin around these parts of the region,” said Akari, “That assassin may be able to use air and water as it’s secondary”   
“Well, more importantly, where did the assassin go?” Zurah asked the brothers, but both were silent…   
“What’s up with the silence? You guys don’t have to be sad that we did not manage to ca-”   
“Get down!” Kemuri shouted as a number of blades suddenly flew to them through the thick fog   
“Wait, The assassin is still here?!”   
“Zurah don’t just stand around there!!”  
Akari pulls Zurah’s leg, Both manage to avoid the blades.  
“Zurah, fucking hell no time to idle around!”   
“Then what am I supposed to do?!”   
“Keep dodging!” As Akari doges a blade, the same blade almost hit Zurah “That should be obvious enough Zurah”   
Zurah gets back on his feet and looks around him, He manages to dodge a couple of blades “Zurah, to your left!” Zurah has barely time to react but Kemuri manages to save Zurah   
“Thanks!”  
“I've got a plan to beat this bitch, and it involves your light Zurah, on my signal, I’m gonna need you to use your light to blind them, then I’ll make a smokescreen for me and Akari to move behind them. While we’re moving behind them, I’m gonna need you to get their attention, use your glaive to gain some distance between you and the assassin, then use your light magic to blind the assassin. Once we get behind them, Akari will use his ink magic and draw goblins that’ll restrain her. You got all of that?”  
“Yeah, I got it. Leave it to me, I’ll distract the assassin.”  
Kemuri signals Zurah by using hand signs, and so the plan commenced. Kemuri uses his smoke magic to create a smokescreen, big enough for Akari and himself to maneuver around and small enough for Zurah to keep the assassin distracted.  
While Kemuri and Akari are sneakily moving around the smokescreen, Zurah taunts the assassin by trying to cast a flashbang at it. The assassin quickly charges at Zurah with the dual swords swinging rapidly, with Zurah barely keeping up.  
But the assassin had a pattern that Zurah was starting to notice, they rapidly attack, then dash away, then repeat, Zurah uses this to his advantage to attack the assassin whenever the assassin tries to dash away.  
He’d swing his glaive in a sideward motion, making a thin, blinding light wave that’d blind the assassin.  
At that moment, Akari had already drawn the ink goblins, the assassin got grabbed by the goblins, with Akari and Kemuri watching for any possible ways the assassin could escape.  
The assassin tried to fight through the way out, but there were just too many of them, The assassin would get restrained by a couple of the goblins, still trying to escape, but yet again, there were still too many of them, the goblins then proceeded to knock the assassin out with their clubs.  
Zurah would let out a sigh of relief, saying “Holy shit, the assassin’s attacks were so fucking fast, I barely dodged the assassin’s attacks.”   
Kemuri says in frustration “Don’t even try escaping this time, ‘cause if you do, I won't hold back.”  
“Kemuri... You do realize she's knocked out… right..?”  
“She?...Whatever… Let’s just head back to the village and interrogate the assassin. Hell, maybe even get a bounty reward if we turn this assassin in.”  
“Brother I don't think it would give us an advantage if we turn the assassin in the village headquarters, besides the people over there are suspicious . I doubt that they'd get any valuable information for the village, and bringing an assassin inside the headquarters is much riskier, for now, let’s interrogate the assassin ourselves back at the house.  
Zurah, together with Kemuri, Akari, and the assassin, head back to the house in the cover of darkness, hoping not to alert any of the villagers, or even worse, the village guards.  
-END of Chapter 5-


	6. The Hunted

When they arrive back at the house, with the assassin tied up to a chair, making sure there are no extra weapons.  
"Who would have known we were fighting a girl, can assassins even be girls?"  
"Zurah…."  
Both brothers stared at Zurah in a very concerning manner  
"Hm? Oh she about to wake up"  
As she wakes up, she sees Kemuri, Zurah, and Akari, waiting for her, with a glass of water, and a few questions for her.  
“..Just kill me already.”  
“As long as you can speak, you’ll be useful.”   
“So who were you trying to assassinate, or rather who did you assassinate?”  
She’d stay silent, until Kemuri throws a dagger right next to her head, as Kemuri says- “Are you going to fucking talk? ‘Cause if you won’t, I won’t hesitate to break one of your fucking limbs.”  
She got intimidated and started talking in a nervous manner - “I was ordered.. By my superiors to assassinate the village elder of Hearcairn, and Edreach just nearby. I successfully assassinated the village elder in Edreach, but almost in Hearcairn, I was waiting nearby in the forests where you found me for an opportunity to assassinate him. Now that I’ve been found, they’re going to take my life.”  
“Why do you continue working for them, don’t you know how many fucking lives your group have killed?”  
“Why should I care? after all, I'm only in it for the money.”  
“So you’re just like every fucking goon with bird brains for money.”  
“You wouldn’t understand”  
“Tell me who your superiors are.”  
“Hah, as if I would.”   
“If you won’t, I'll make your limbs talk instead.”  
“Try me.”   
Kemuri would pull out his daggers, and aim the dagger at her hand and slowly pushes it.  
“Don’t make me go deeper.”  
Akari storms out, the room suddenly goes silent. Kemuri asks Zurah if they could talk in private.   
“Zurah, get out of here, it's gonna get dirty, if you want you can stay and watch, be my guest.” -Kemuri says in a frustrated manner   
Zurah gets out of the room, and just outside of the basement, Zurah asks Akari -  
“What's gonna happen..”  
“He’s gonna torture her, he’s not gonna stop until she talks”  
A few hours of torturing later.,  
“Alright we should turn her into the headquarters, I got all the information I need.”  
Akari would snap at Kemuri saying- “What??! Wouldn’t that be worse?? Think of all the bad things they might do to her!”  
“And?”  
“I just.. Feel bad, I mean, sure she's bad right now, but maybe we can convince her to join us?” Zurah would say, pleading to Kemuri  
“No, are you fucking retarded? We don’t need her anymore, we’ve got all the information we need now. She might as well be dead-weight either way.”  
“Yeah.. but....”  
“..Alright. Fine. You have one shot to convince her to stay with us, but if she gets away, or anything bad happens to us, it’s all on you.”  
“..Okay I understand.”  
Kemuri would enter the room, and see her, with the dagger still in her hand, he’d remove the dagger with force. The girl would scream loud.  
“Alright, thanks to Zurah you get to live another day.”  
He’d remove the ropes on her arms and legs, setting her free. When she stood up, Kemuri would grab her shoulder and whisper into her ear; “Remember, if you do anything to hurt me, my friend, or my brother, I won’t hesitate to kill you.”  
“..Okay..” She’d say, her voice trembling in fear.  
“Hey, what’s your name by the way?” Zurah would say, smiling at her and trying to comfort her.   
“..It’s Bianca...Bianca Valentine, what about yours?”  
“I’m Zurah, the scary one is Kemuri Aikawa, and the-” He’d look at his surroundings to see if Akari was nearby, and luckily he wasn't- “As I was saying, the midget is Akari. I believe you mentioned something about the Iron Dawn’s goons attacking this village?”  
“Yeah.”  
Kemuri interrupts their conversation.   
“Enough with the chit-chat we need to get all of the villagers out of here and fast. Luckily I know just the guy” Kemuri would say, smirking at them as they’d just stare in confusion at him- “The guy goes by Noah, he has a few carriages we can use to get everyone out hopefully before the goons attack.”  
Kemuri, Bianca, Akari, and Zurah would leave the house, hurrying as they don’t have much time left. Kemuri goes just outside of Noah’s house, as Kemuri starts shouting- “HEY NOAH! We need your carriages.”  
Noah, a 7’9ft. tall middle-aged man, with a semi-muscular build. Slowly comes out of his house.  
*Sighs* “What is it this time, Kemuri.” says Noah in a deep voice  
“It’s the Iron Dawn.”  
“Say no more brother. What do you need?”  
“We need your carriages to get the villagers out of here fast, and if ever they catch up, I’ll cover our escape.”  
“Alright, I owe you, but are you sure you can handle them?”  
“Yeah,” He’d scoff “Of Course I can handle them, they’re just a bunch of goons anyways.”  
“Okay then, I’ll gather all the villagers here to get in the carriages.”  
And so it began, the race to get the villagers out of the Hearcairn, with just a few hours before the goons arrive.  
-END of Chapter 6-


	7. Escape

A few hours later, all the villagers have gathered near Noah’s house, Kemuri goes on top of one of the carriages to make an announcement.  
“EVERYONE, IF I MAY HAVE YOUR ATTENTION. This village is about to be raided by goons of the Iron Dawn, so I’m gonna need everyone to cooperate with me here.” And just by mentioning the Iron Dawn, he had gotten everyone's attention. “Everyone below the age of 50, must go into the first and second carriage, and everyone above 50, goes to the third carriage. Does everyone understand?”  
Although scared everyone agreed “Alright, now let's start moving it people.” and would start going to their respective carriages.  
Zurah would look at everyone moving in their carriages and ask Kemuri, “Who’s gonna drive the carriages?”  
“You, Noah, and Akari.”  
“Me?? But I don’t even know where to go..”  
“You’re not taking the lead anyways, just follow Noah. He’ll lead you and Akari to a safe area.”  
A couple of minutes later, everyone is in their respective carriages, and they start moving out. Meanwhile, the goons are approaching the carriages and people start to take notice.  
“Hey, what's that over there? I think I see something moving..”  
Suddenly,Five fireballs, coming above from the walls, nearly hit the carriages. The villagers are in shock, clinging onto each other for their lives. Kemuri checks his surroundings then says- “AKARI!”Akari draws a gigantic wall using his ink magic and blocks some of the fireballs from hitting the carriage.  
Suddenly there was a big loud bang that broke down the village’s wall.  
Kemuri says in a panicked manner - “Go on without me, I’ll hold them off, return to the town by dusk tomorrow.”   
Akari looks at Kemuri in a worried manner.  
“Be safe, brother.”  
Kemuri jumps off the carriage to face the goons, numbering to ten goons.  
He’d think to himself, “Ten goons, two, no maybe three of them know how to use magic. This shouldn't be a challenge.”  
The goons would charge at Kemuri, He’d let out a burst of flames in a wave, that would knock down the goons charging at him, then he uses his smoke screen, he would then go for the ones that are knocked down, quickly stabbing them then dashing away, He’d whisper to himself, “Six, no seven left.”  
The remaining goons that don’t know how to use magic flee to the forests, retreating while they still can. The remaining goons are the ones that can use magic.  
One of the goons steps up saying, “What are you going to do? There are three of us that use magic. It’s a three versus one. I think you should just give up.”   
The three goons laugh at Kemuri.  
Then, Kemuri breathes in, “Smoke Blitz.” As he says that, smoke starts surrounding him, Then charges at the goons, slicing away their arms and legs. They didn’t realize until they noticed he was gone from their sight.   
“Impossi-” The two goons that are left alive start crawling away.  
Then suddenly one of the goons that crawled away drank a potion of some sort. Suddenly becoming big, making the goon have similar characteristics as that of an orc. The goon that drank the potion came charging behind Kemuri, trying to swing at him, but Kemuri swiftly dodges, grabs the arm the goon used to swing at him, and stabs him in the eye with his dagger infused with fire magic, making the goons insides erupt in flames, and soon after, his skin.  
“Argh! Who the fuck do you think you are??!”  
“Hmm,” Kemuri would take a short pause- “Who am I? See I think it's best if you don't know.”  
“What the fuck?” The goon would take an aggressive stance  
Kemuri stares at them, as horns, resembling that of a demon, or rather, the devil, start appearing behind him.  
“It Can’t be..” says the goon in a nervous manner. “You’re him!?”

Kemuri ‘Prince of Terror’ Aikawa.

“No way?! I heard from one of our superiors that you tried to assassinate Him??” The goon would say in a terrified tone  
Kemuri would slowly start walking towards him, daggers in hand, with smoke emitting with every step he takes.  
“You’ve mistaken me for someone else.”  
He would stop walking. And suddenly, the area gets filled with smoke, both of them getting separated in his smoke field, the last thing they would hear is Kemuri saying- “Smokes Veil.” as he becomes one with the smoke field, turning into a smoke demon, slowly turning both of the goons insane, and then consuming them. The last words they would ever hear is- “Die.”  
Once Kemuri was done handling the goons, Zurah, alongside the others, returned to the village, after a day had passed. The villagers would get out of the carriages, one by one, and start rebuilding the damage dealt by the fireballs.  
As they were doing that, the night was approaching, and so there was a bigger raid force from the Iron Dawn. Slowly started to form a circle around the area where the villagers are, making sure nobody escapes.  
A young boy would ask his mother, “Mom.. Who are those people over there?” As he’d point at the goons surrounding them. Soon enough, Zurah and the others would witness the goons surrounding them. Zurah, Akari, and Bianca would ready their weapons, going on the defensive stance, hoping to stall for Kemuri to come back, if he does come back.  
Zurah would look at each of the goons, and see one of them standing out, a goon, around 7 ft. tall, cladded with white armor.  
“What do you want from us?!” Zurah would ask, in an aggressive tone.  
“What do we want? We want you to surrender Bianca to us.”  
“Well, she ain’t one of yours anymore!”  
“Child, if we don’t get to kill her, then we’ll be using the folks here as a substitute.”   
Suddenly the 7 ft. tall goon shouted, -  
“IF YOU VILLAGERS WANT TO LIVE, GIVE US THE FEMALE ASSASSIN OR ELSE WE’RE GONNA SLAUGHTER EVERYONE HERE!”  
The tall goon shout was so loud it not only shook everyone, it feels as if there was an earthquake. And at that moment the villagers asked themselves should they really protect the female assassin?   
Suddenly a villager shouted -  
“GIVE THEM THE ASSASSIN, WHY SHOULD WE EVEN PROTECT HER WHEN SHE'S KILLED SO MANY OF US?!”  
“WHAT WAS GOING ON INSIDE THE MINDS OF THESE CHILDREN, KEEPING THE ASSASSIN AROUND!”   
And so the villagers went against Zurah and his friends  
“Umm, This wasn’t part of the plan Kemuri..” Zurah says nervously  
Suddenly Akari shouted back at the villagers  
“WE KEPT HER ALIVE CAUSE SHE HAS VALUABLE INFORMATION AND INSTEAD OF KILLING HER WE DECIDED TO MAKE HER INTO OUR ALLY!”  
“CHILD! DO YOU THINK YOUR LIES CAN EASILY FOOL THE VILLAGERS? WE ALL KNOW WHAT YOU JUST WANTED TO MAKE HER YOUR SLAVE!”  
Zurah looks at Bianca and says “Tell the people that were not your enemies”  
Akari looks towards Bianca, Zurah and his brother with despair and says -  
“Stop Bianca it’s useless they'll never believe us”  
Suddenly there was a noise in the distance. It sounded like a drill that was getting louder and louder as the villagers looked. It was a group of people that were riding horses.  
One of them suddenly shouted - “It’s the Royal Guards of the Kingdom!”   
The Royal Guards had a crest on their chests that looked like a shield with thorns.  
“We’re saved!” As the Royal Guards get closer, The goons decided to retreat but Zurah and his friends wouldn’t let their chance escape and so they decided to attack the goons and buy time for the Royal Guards to arrive.  
The 7ft. Tall goon shouted -   
“RETREAT-” But before the goon got the word out Kemuri had already thrown a dagger behind the goon’s head. And slowly the 7ft. Giant fell down.  
In the distance you could hear the loud screams of goons, blood spilling, it was the Royal Guards killing the last of them.   
The Royal guards consisted of many who are experts in magic, their magic could match 1000 orcs in battle. They are the ones assigned to protect the kingdom.  
But before the Royal Guards got to the village the Giant goon,  
In desperation, he drank a potion and gained a massive boost in power and size. Kemuri had noticed and decided to take action.  
“Damn giant, can’t stay down.”   
Kemuri unleashed his smokes making a demon - looking creature appear behind his back. And Kemuri with all his might took down the Giant in one fell swoop.  
But as soon as the Giant fell the royal guards appeared and saw Kemuri.  
One of the Royal Guard talked and said.  
“That's him, right?? The Prince of Terror?”   
In response their captain says,-  
“New objective, capture the Prince of Terror.”  
As Kemuri was about to get assaulted, Zurah tried to let out a beam from his hands. But one of the royal guards already countered it using mirror magic.

One of the Royal Guards managed to knock out Zurah and Akari, and they were able to successfully capture Zurah and his friends.  
After that, the Royal Guards discussed with the villagers what had happened to this place. And so Zurah, Kemuri, Akari and Bianca were captured by the Royal Guards and taken into custody.   
-END OF Chapter 7-


	8. The Prince of Terror

Zurah finds himself in shackles, wondering if this wouldn’t have happened if he didn't meet Akari and Kemuri.   
Meanwhile, Kemuri still blacked out, inside a prison cell....

The year is 283, the month of december, I have finally infiltrated the Shaulsin castle in the capital city of Haulgref. Now all I need to do is find a way to steal the Glaive, and I’m outta here.

Under the cover of darkness, he’d move swiftly, slowly making his way down the long set of stairs.   
Once he had reached the room where it’s held, he’d scan his surroundings for anyone that might try to ambush him, and capture him.  
He had made sure that his surroundings were clear, sneakily moving in to take the Glaive.  
When he took it, he inspected it to see if it was the right one- a Glaive with white, ominous, ancient looking markings on it. But it wasn't the one. So he’d slowly make his way, delving deeper down the castle.  
He had made his way down to find another room, a room filled with spikes, and other deadly traps. And with another Glaive at the end of the room.  
He carefully inspected all of the traps, and how they worked. With this knowledge, he jumps across the first trap, and crawls through the second trap. The third trap seems challenging, needing to flip a lever to de-activate.  
Kemuri would closely inspect the room, but with no sign of a level anywhere, until he saw a small crack in one of the tiles. He’d take a close look at the crack, and find a lever, all he needed to do now is to break the tile.  
“My daggers should do the job here.” He’d whisper to himself, unsheathing his daggers, and using the hilt of the daggers, He’d start bashing away at the tile, making quick work of it.  
After he broke the tile, he’d pull the lever, seemingly deactivating the trap.  
Kemuri would approach the Glaive with caution, as to not set off any traps unbeknownst to him. As he got closer, he would feel an ominous presence; forcing him to check his surroundings, but to not find anyone.  
In one, swift action, he’d take the Glaive from its stand. Quickly making a run for the exit.  
As he’s running for the exit, smoke emits from each step he’d take. He has always had a habit of doing this, whenever he’s nervous, smoke would start emitting with every step he takes.  
He nears the exit to the tower, taking minute breaks every so often so as to not fatigue himself too much, in case of an ambush.  
He then exits the tower, and now has to find a way to get past the dozen guards by the castle gate. Before thinking of a way to get past the guards, he’d wrap the glaive in leather, disguising it as merely a simple Lute.  
Covering his face with a hood, and wearing a mask, as to not alert them of who he is.  
He’d approach the gate, appearing to the guards as if he was just another wanderer. But suddenly, one of the guards,   
“Wanderers like yourself don’t usually leave the capital city around these times. Explain who you are, and where you’re heading.”  
“I was just heading to Shipton. And as for who I am, that’s none of your concern. Why don’t you tell me who YOU are instead.”  
“Tch, I’m Valhir Stormwind, now tell me, who are you.”  
“I’m Kemuri Aikawa.”  
Valhir, would look at Kemuri, with his cold, orange eyes, as if he were a wolf and say-  
“I’ve heard that name somewhere before.” The air would stay silent, the only thing making sounds would be the ravens, chirping nearby.  
“I don’t know what you're talking about.”  
“..Could you be the ‘Prince of Terror’ the damn higher-ups are talking about?”  
Kemuri would stay silent, but not for long, he tried making a run for it, but Valhir would stomp the ground, making a slight tremor, that Kemuri would feel.  
“Kemuri, why do you still insist on fighting for Dogronland, a country with a corrupt government, and unjust law system.”  
Kemuri, with nothing to say, unsheathes his daggers, whilst charging towards Valhir-  
“I’ll handle this one,” Valhir says to his fellow guardsmen, Suddenly- Valhir’s arms transform into that of a dire wolf, his eyes, glowing a bright orange intensely in the night.  
He’d start charging towards Kemuri, ‘till they’d clash; Direwolf fists, against two magic-infused daggers.  
Valhir would attempt to strike him with his fists, but Kemuri dodges the attack, counter-attacking by stabbing him in the side with his magic-infused daggers, leaving him kneeling on the ground, over the wound.  
“Heh, that was good, kid.” He’d smirk at Kemuri- “But not good enough.” proceeding to stand up as if the wound didn’t affect him at all.  
“Damn it.” Kemuri would say, frustrated that his attack barely did anything to him. He’d charge at Valhir, aiming for the head. But it’s too predictable for Valhir. Valhir would make his arms turn back into normal, and using his Lightning magic, shoots a wave of lightning that shocks. Kemuri, leaving him defenseless on the ground and making him drop the Glaive.  
“I’ll give you a choice. Abandon Dogronland, or DIE.”  
Kemuri would stand up, and proceed to say- “I’d rather die.” as smoke starts enveloping him, creating a smoke field that covers his position and the nearby area as well. “Smokes Veil.” He’d say, as he became one with the smoke field, grabbing the Glaive with this opportunity, and running away, back to a nearby Dogronland military outpost by the border.  
Valhir would look at Kemuri, running for his life, thinking he's being chased. Valhir started laughing, then proceeded to say- “What an interesting boy, I hope we’ll meet again in the future, Kemuri Aikawa.”  
-END of Chapter 8-


	9. Embers of his Heart

As Kemuri is making his way towards the outpost by the Dogron-Shaulsin border, he realized that he wasn’t being followed, so he took some time to take a rest by the grass, and enjoy the calm, early morning breeze. He hadn’t felt the breeze in a long time, ever since he was forced to join the military for war, he’d never get much sleep.  
When Kemuri felt that he was ready to go, he went, he had to arrive at the outpost as early as possible anyways. If he didn’t he’d get punished by his superiors.  
A few hours of walking later -  
“Finally, the fucking outpost. I could’ve sworn it was closer..”  
As he approached the gates of the outpost, the guards would open the gates for him.  
He’d enter the outpost, and go to the nearest knight, and ask-  
“Hey, where’s the Supreme General?”  
“I don’t know, sir.” The knight would say.  
Kemuri would search the camp for the Supreme General but to no avail. Until Lieutenant-General Ulysses Winterclaw approaches Kemuri-  
“Damn Kemuri, you just missed him, he left camp a day ago. He got summoned by the capital, Steel point. I think you can catch up to him if you go by horse though, they’re moving at a slow pace anyway, so..”  
“Alright, thanks a lot Ulysseys!” He’d say waving goodbye to Ulysseys as he leaves the camp once again, but this time on his steed, ‘Nobleflame.’  
And so they’d ride out, following the pathway. Taking occasional breaks in between villages if ever he’d get hungry or thirsty. But, there was one village that stood out; when Kemuri stopped by the village to get some food, he saw a couple of bandits, collecting all of the villagers' tax for the month. He decided to intervene, going up to them and saying- “Excuse me, but do you bandits own this town?”  
“What?” The bandit would look at Kemuri, with an intense look on his face, as if he was gonna murder him.  
“I was asking if you owned this town, or at least work for the one who owns this town, because if you don’t then you should just go and fuck off.”  
“Nah, we don’t own, nor work for the one who owns this town, but rather, we are part of a gang you don’t wanna mess with.”  
“Oh? Really?” He’d say, to mock them.  
“You motherfucker, you don’t wanna mess with the Iron Dawn.”  
Kemuri would try his best to hold in his laughter, but he just couldn’t contain it, and soon he’d burst into laughter  
“THE IRON DAWN????! WHAT KIND OF PATHETIC NAME IS THAT???” He’d keep laughing, as the bandits come over to him and kick him in the stomach, he’d fall on his knees, and as the leader of the bandits comes closer, he instantly unsheathes one of his daggers, standing up and stabbing the bottom of the bandit’s jaw, the dagger going through the top of his head. Intimidated, the other bandits drop the money collected, and scatter to the forest.  
The villagers would go up to him and offer their gratitude, by giving him food supplies, enough to last two days, and a small bag of coins.  
“Thank you, for helping us.. If I may ask, what’s your name?”  
“It’s Kemuri Aikawa. I’m part of the Military.”  
“Wait. Military?” One of the villagers would ask in a suspicious tone.  
He’d slowly say- “..Yes, why?”  
“Give us back what we gave you. You fucking military dog.”  
“...What??! But I literally just helped you guys?!”  
“Yeah, and so? We don’t want any business with the military.”   
The villagers would start throwing pebbles, and rocks at Kemuri, demanding that he return what they gave him, and leave the village immediately. And so, Kemuri did just that. Leaving the village thinking- “What did we do to make them hate us so much.. What if.. We are the bad ones.. Oh well, I just need to get the Glaive to the Supreme General.”   
\- After a day passed, Kemuri finally caught up to the Supreme General, being just behind him.  
“SUPREME GENERAL!!!!” He’d shout, just behind the carriage that the Supreme General is in.  
“SUPREME GENERAAAAAAL!!!!!!” He’d keep shouting, ‘till the carriage that the Supreme General is in would stop moving  
The Supreme General would exit his carriage, and Kemuri would get down from his steed.  
“What is it this time, Major-General Kemuri Aikawa.”  
“I have retrieved the Glaive from the enemy, sir.”  
“Good. Give it to me.”  
As he was going to give it, he’d stop, and ask the Supreme General a question- “Sir, why do we neglect the poor villages.. Why do we continue to fight this war.. Why do we allow slavery.. Why.. Why do we?”  
“That is the way this world works boy. The strong survive. The weak die. We need to fight this war in order to gain more land and more POWER.”  
“If that's the reason, then why should I give the Glaive to you?”  
“Because It’s an order.” He’d stare at Kemuri, while holding his hand out, waiting to receive the Glaive from him.  
“No.” Kemuri would say, in a defiant tone. As he holds the Glaive, he swings it at the Supreme General, managing to slice his chest. Seemingly killing him. But as soon as Kemuri did that, the Supreme General’s Elite Vanguard with the crest of the Iron Dawn instantly came and surrounded Kemuri. They managed to inflict a scar, in the shape of an X on his torso.  
Kemuri would make a Smoke Field, and say- “Smokes Veil” as he’d disappear into the smoke. Apparently, the Elite Vanguard thought he would’ve died of the blood loss, and decided not to chase him.  
But little did they know, they lit a fire inside Kemuri’s heart, a fire, which will never get extinguished, not until Dogronland, no, rather the world is free from the clutches of the corrupt and unjust.  
-END OF Chapter 9-


	10. Shackles

\- Back in the present, the year is X301, the month of February, Zurah, Kemuri, Akari, and Bianca find themselves in shackles, inside the Steelpoint prison, all placed in different cells on the lowest level of the prison.  
Zurah would wake up, after being captured and knocked unconscious by the Royal Guard.  
He’d think to himself- “Wh- Where am I..?” as he’d look around the dark and empty room.  
“I hope the others are okay, wherever they a-” He’d be interrupted as a Royal Guard enters the room, staring at Zurah in a menacing way, then immediately leaving the room, shutting the door behind him.  
He would think of a way to get out, but it’d be impossible, especially with these magic-negating shackles. So he decided to wait for another guard to come by.  
It’d take a few hours, but eventually, another guard would enter the room, telling Zurah- “You’re coming with me, prisoner.” Zurah would follow the guard, into the grand courtroom, where the king is sitting on the throne.  
The king would look down upon Zurah, and say- “Good. Now we wait for the others to arrive.  
The others would arrive, the others consisting of: Kemuri Aikawa, Akari Aikawa, Ulysseys Winterclaw, a few soldiers, and a couple of farmers.  
Kemuri would look at Ulysseys, “Heh, funny seeing you here Ulysseys, I thought you were loyal, what happened to that?”  
“Well, the circumstances have changed, the way I view this shitty country has changed a lot over the years. I can’t believe that your brother got dragged into this as well.”  
Akari would look at Ulysseys, confused about who he is.  
“Who are you?? How do you know me and my brother??”  
“Akari, meet Ulysseys, he was a Lieutenant-General back when we were at war with Shaulsin.”  
“SILENCE!!” The king would shout, “As expected of you traitorous filth. You don’t know the very concept of respect.”  
“Hm, are you sure it isn’t you who doesn’t know the concept of respect, my king?” Kemuri’s insult made the others witnessing the event gasp “Eager to die are you?”  
Before Kemuri can even respond, his head is suddenly bashed against the floor, “The fool shall carry shame for insulting me, the king!!” Kemuri struggles to get up, even struggling to try to breathe,  
But it slowly lightens, “This should make you learn your lesson.” As the king smirked, he signals his men to make preparations “As much as I want to kill you with my own hands, I don’t want to give you such an honor.” The audience laughed and cheered for the king as the men carried them away, though before they were carried to their cells, the king commented, “It's a shame, Kemuri, Ulysseys, you were great ‘assets’ for the military.”  
They’d get escorted back to their prison cells, seeing a crowd outside the grand courtroom, staring at the prisoners, disgusted that the king didn’t just execute them on the spot.  
When they reach their cells, some of them would start praying to the God of Light that they are to be saved by its blessing, or by something of light...

A day prior to the execution.

A tall, muscular man, covering his face with a hood, enters a bar in Steel’s point.  
“Hey barkeep, I’d like one of your finest.”  
“Sure thing bud.” The barkeeper says, grabbing a bottle of beer, and pouring it onto the man’s cup.  
The man would slowly drink the beer in the cup, but an interesting conversation caught his attention.  
“Hey, have you heard? There's gonna be eight people that’re gonna be executed tomorrow at the execution platform in the center of the city, I also heard that Lieutenant-General Ulysseys Winterclaw and Kemuri ‘Prince of Terror’ Aikawa are part of the people that’ll get executed... ”  
That was all he needed to hear. The man chugged away at his beer and paid the barkeeper. “Keep the change.” he’d say, giving him Shaulsin currency. Noticing this, the barkeeper would ask him- “You’re not from here are you?”  
The man would just look at the barkeeper, and smile as he left the bar.  
The man would head across a shallow, and dark alleyway, pushing a brick, that acted as a button, activating a secret pathway, leading to a room with the map of Dogronland. Inside, stands two other people. Lazarus Dracks, a tall man with hair as white as winter snow, and eyes red like the blood. And Valerion, a man with spiky red hair, green eyes, and with a metal arm.  
“Valerion, Lazarus, I just got intel that there's an execution happening tomorrow.”  
“And what does that have to do with us?” Lazarus asks, in a rather aggressive tone.  
“Because, if we save the ones getting executed, they’ll start a revolution, if that were to happen, we can have the rest of our forces move further into Dogronland. They’d have to fight between a revolution or the Shaulsins. When the execution happens, we’ll split up. Since there’s most likely a rather large crowd, I’ll be in the middle, where it's closest to the execution platform.”  
“Why not be at the front of the crowd?” Valerion asks.  
“Because if I stay at the front, I’d be instantly seen by the guards. Lazarus, you take the left side of the crowd, Valerion, you take the right. And on my signal, I want both of you to head to the execution platform and free them from their shackles. I’ll hold off the Royal Guards.”  
“Alright boss.” They’d both say.  
They’d prepare for the next day, a day that is sure to be written down in history.

The day of the execution.

Zurah and the others would get escorted out of their cells, and onto the execution, as they’d look at the crowd and see an immense amount of people looking, cheering for the execution to happen.  
They’d execute the farmers first, the farmers begging and pleading for their lives, and praying to the God of Light to have mercy on them.  
Next was the soldiers who deserted the military. They seem to accept their deaths, believing that deserting the military was the just thing to do.  
Zurah was next. He’d kneel down, waiting for the executioner to chop off his head. He would take one last look at Kemuri, and the friends that he’s made, the adventures, and everything he had learned   
“So it ends here huh? I didn’t even get to find out what happened to my parents..”  
The executioner was ready to chop off Zurah’s head, raising the axe up, ready to cut off his head.  
The hooded man looks at Zurah and smiles.  
-END OF Chapter 10-


	11. The Fires of Revolution

As Zurah is about to be executed, storm clouds start forming, looking as if there's about to be a thunderstorm in the area.  
The executioner swings his axe down at Zurah. Until suddenly, thunder strikes the executioner, setting him on fire.  
That was the signal.  
The crowd would gasp, and run away in fear of an attacker.  
Lazarus, and Valerion rush towards the execution platform, kill the guards and break the shackles that bind Zurah, Kemuri, Akari, Ulysseys, and Bianca, while The Man kills the remaining guards.  
The Man heads over to the execution platform to rendezvous with them, going up to Kemuri and saying- “Hey, remember me?”  
Kemuri would look at him, confused. “Oh shit, hold on.” The Man would remove his hood, revealing himself to be Valhir Stormwind.  
“VALHIR??! ISN'T THERE A TEMPORARY TRUCE BETWEEN DOGRONLAND AND SHAULSIN??”  
“..Yes, I originally came here only to gather intel for Shaulsin, but I overheard from some folks that you were going to get executed for treason, so I came to help, and to recruit you.”  
“Recruit me?? Into Shaulsin? After everything I’ve done, after all the Shaulsin people I’ve killed, you’re still willing to recruit me?”  
“Yes. What you did in the past doesn’t matter to me, it’s what you’re doing in the present that matters, and I can see that you’ve changed quite a lot.”  
As they were talking, Ulysseys spotted hundreds, maybe even thousands of Royal Guards moving in on their position.  
“I think we should get out of here..”  
“Get out of here? No, I don’t think we can just get out of here, we have to fight our way out. We will rendezvous with our main attack force later once we get the fuck out of this place.”  
One of the Royal Guards shouts at them- “SURRENDER NOW, OR DIE.”  
“Burn in hell.” He’d burn the one who was shouting at them. And with that, the Royal Guard charged at the eight of them.  
Lazarus would ask Valhir before charging at them, “Can I go all out?”  
“Sure. I’ll cover the front side, Lazarus, handle the left, Valerion, handle the right. The rest of you handle the back.”  
Lazarus would unsheathe his katana, the Royal Guards charging at him. He’d dodge the swings, moving from left to right, occasionally jumping in the air to avoid multiple swings, “Let’s have some fun.”  
He’d use his katana to slice horizontally, slicing off the heads of those caught by his katana. A guard would sneak up behind him, attempting to slice his back while he appears to be caught off guard, but Lazarus would instantly react, slicing the guards body in half, his organs flopping to the ground.  
“Your blood is MINE.” He’d say while drinking the blood of his fallen enemies, fatiguing him, but increasing his speed and reaction speed.  
As the left side numbers dwindled down, the Commander of the left side force would approach Lazarus.  
“Stand against the king, and you DIE.” Charging towards Lazarus with his magic infused longsword, they clash, with Lazarus creating an orb of blood, and bashing it on the Commander’s head.  
The Commander would counter, by kicking Lazarus’ legs, causing him to fall to the ground, the Commander would try to slice Lazarus’ head off, but Lazarus would just barely block it with his katana, then proceeding to dash away to a safe distance.  
Lazarus would make an orb of concentrated blood, then charging at the Commander with it, aiming at the Commander's chest.  
Lazarus misses, getting stabbed by the Commander in the process, as it seemed like he was about to die, He’d use the blood in his surroundings to heal himself, forcibly removing the Commander’s sword from his chest, then using his katana to end the Commander’s life.

Meanwhile, on the right side.

Valerion would sigh, “Just another day.”  
Suddenly, pebbles and rocks start floating, aiming towards the royals guards approaching him.  
The Royal Guards would see the pebbles and rocks, and attempt to raise their shields, but it was too late.  
The Royal Guards in the front would get decimated, pebbles and rocks flying into their faces, severely wounding them, and making them scream in agony.  
Valerion would pull out his warhammer, charging at the Royal Guards, and absolutely demolishing their weak armor.  
He’d go up to one of the crushed Royal Guards and say, “Damn. It seems your armor is just for show.”  
Suddenly, Valerion would make a flash of light, blinding the Royal Guards, Valerion would use this opportunity to shoot bursts of light beams at the heads of each Royal Guard, blasting a hole straight through their heads.  
And then, the Commander of the right side force would sneak up on Valerion, kicking at his legs, then at his chest.  
Valerion had no time to react, so he made the ground near him shake, causing the Commander to lose balance, and falling over.  
He’d grab his warhammer, and attempt to bash the Commander’s head, but he instantly reacted, moving over to the side at the perfect time, grabbing Valerion’s legs and pulling them, making him fall over.  
“This is the end for you, scum.” The Commander would say to Valerion, but as he was about to kill Valerion, a blast of lightning coming from Valhir would strike him, leaving him unconscious.  
Valerion would quickly grab his warhammer and smash the Commander’s head, as blood would spew all over the place, inflicting fear to the Royal Guards on the right side.  
Some of them retreat, but some stay, and choose to die heroes.  
All you would see on the right side, is Valerion pulverizing the bones of the remaining Royal Guards, blood and bones just flying across the battlefield.

Meanwhile, on the back side.

Zurah, alongside Kemuri, Bianca, and Ulysseys, would fight the might of the royal forces at the back side, where the majority of the Royal Guard forces are piled up.  
Zurah would go in hand-to-hand combat with a Royal Guard soldier, punching his gut, but with the soldier retaliating and punching his face, and kicking his leg, making him fall over, as the soldier was about to stomp on Zurah’s face, he’d dodge it, grabbing onto the soldier’s feet, pulling it, and making him fall down, head first into the ground, knocking him unconscious.  
He’d loot the body of the soldier, finding just a small dagger.  
Meanwhile, Kemuri would burn the people in front of him, then charging at them, getting the daggers of his fallen enemies and infusing his fire magic in them.  
He’d stab two people at once, one at the left, and one at the right, then immediately their bodies are set aflame, he proceeds to do this to the rest of the enemies, making sure not to fatigue himself too much. “I haven’t fought this many enemies ever since the war, am I right Ulysseys?”  
Ulysseys would look at Kemuri, and smile, saying- “HELL YEAH!!” while proceeding to charge at the enemies, with his ice swords, instantly freezing anyone he kills with it.  
But, the numbers at the back side were increasing, and soon Kemuri and Ulysseys would be fighting back to back as they got surrounded by the Royal Guards.  
“Just like the old days.” Ulysseys would say to Kemuri, who’s behind him.  
“Heh, just like the old days, Ulysses.”  
Ulysseys would reinforce his current clothing with his ice magic, and Kemuri reinforced his with his fire magic.  
Together, they’d burn and freeze the Royal Guards, with Ulysseys freezing their feet, so they wouldn’t escape, and Kemuri burning them while they’re stuck.  
“Nice job, Ulysseys.”  
“You too, Kemuri.”  
While Ulysseys and Kemuri are victorious fighting on their end, Akari is getting extremely tired, drawing ink goblins just isn’t enough, he gets so tired, to a point where he passes out in the middle of drawing one,  
But luckily Bianca is there to help Akari.  
She’d grab his body, and carry him on her shoulders, Akari wasn’t that heavy, but to Bianca he was extremely heavy. But she had to push through, and get Akari to Kemuri and Ulysseys.  
As she was making her way towards Kemuri and Ulysseys, all the way at the other side, there’d be an endless barrage of fireballs, and pebbles being thrown at high speeds.  
Most of the fireballs and pebbles would miss, but there was one fireball that was about to hit them, and she couldn’t do anything to protect herself and Akari.  
Luckily, Lazarus arrived in time, creating a water sphere, blocking the fireball aimed at them, and making the water evaporate, causing a large steam cloud to appear, blocking the sight of anyone inside the steam cloud.  
Bianca managed to get Akari safely to Kemuri and Ulysseys, with Valerion arriving just in time to heal everyone's wounds, it seemed like everyone was there, except for Zurah.  
Zurah was just wrapping up the remaining Royal Guards, blinding them with his light, then immediately knocking them out, not killing them.  
But just as they thought they were finished, another wave of reinforcements came, but with the reinforcements, came a Barbarian, and a Commander.  
One Commander had a spear, and the other had two battle axes.  
Lazarus would say, “Let me and Valerion handle the one with the spear, Kemuri and Ulysseys, you handle the one with the battle axes. And the rest of you, handle the reinforcements.”  
“Roger that, Lazarus!” And so, Kemuri and Ulysseys would charge the one with the battle axes, while Lazarus and Valerion would charge at the one with the spear.  
Ulysseys, using his ice magic, freezes the barbarian’s feet, but the barbarian was too strong, and easily broke the ice at his feet.  
Kemuri, would try to blind the barbarian with his flames, aiming at his head, but instead the barbarian would charge at Kemuri, and proceed swing his battle axes at Kemuri, Ulysseys would try to shoot an ice wave at the barbarian’s back, but it’d do nothing but anger him even further.  
They’d make a realization.  
Magic isn’t effective on this barbarian, but steel will be.  
And so Ulysseys grabs two swords from a dead Royal Guard soldier on the ground, and Kemuri would do the same, and pick up three daggers.  
Kemuri started by throwing the extra dagger, aimed at the barbarians eye, but he’d just catch it, while the barbarian was focused on catching the dagger, Ulysseys would use the opportunity to try to swing at his legs, only to be grabbed, and start getting choked by the barbarian, while Ulysseys is getting choked, Kemuri would make a dash, using air magic on the soles of his feet to boost him, and when he got close enough, he’d slice at both of his legs, making the barbarian drop Ulysseys, and falling to the ground.  
“Would you like to do the honors?” Kemuri would jokingly say  
As Ulysseys grabs his two swords, and cuts off the barbarians head.  
“That was a fucking close one, I’m glad you came and sliced his legs, if it was anything else I would’ve died.”  
“It’s no problem, Ulysseys.”  
Meanwhile, Lazarus and Valerion are in the middle of fighting the spear-wielding Commander, Lazarus, using a dagger from a dead Royal Guard soldier to cut himself in the hand, and drinking his own blood, boosting his speed, and reaction time.  
Lazarus charges at the Commander at immense speeds, almost untraceable by the human eye.  
He’d inflict cuts on the side of his chest, back, and legs.  
While the Commander is focused on evading Lazarus’ attacks, Valerion creates a hole in the ground where the Commander is standing, and crushes him while he's in the hole, the sounds of bones being broken echoing nearby.  
As they finished fighting the Barbarian and the Commander, Zurah and Bianca finished up the last of the back side reinforcements.  
“I wonder how Valhir is holding up over at the front..” Kemuri would ask Ulysseys,  
“Well, knowing him the Royal Guards over there have probably already either retreated, died, or just outright surrendered.”

Over at the front side..

“KNOW THE NAME, VALHIR STORMWIND!” As he’d call upon lightning, and strike the Royal Guards in front of him, then he’d transform his arms and legs into that of a direwolf, and start clawing at all the Royal Guards he sees.  
“FOR SHAULSIN!!” He’d claw his way through the Royal Guards, people trying to slice and stab him, but he’d just dodge them and counter-attack by breaking their weapon, and clawing their faces off.  
A soldier would try to sneak up behind him, and hit him in the head with his warhammer, but as soon as he hit him, the warhammer broke, leaving the soldier weaponless, Valhir would look at soldier, with his cold, orange eyes, as if he’s a direwolf, the soldier would fall on his knees, trying to run, but his legs wouldn't work, he was terrified, and he couldn’t do anything.  
Valhir would stomp on the terrified soldier's chest, leaving a hole, the size of his direwolf foot.  
The other Royal Guard soldiers would tremble in fear, terrified of what they’d just witnessed, and so they retreated.  
All but one.  
“I admire your courage, not running away when you had the chance to.”  
The soldier would reply, “And why would I, if I kill you, think of all the fame and glory I could get.”  
“What is your name boy?”  
“Shen Silverthorn.”  
“Let us see if you can endure, Shen.” Valhir would instantly charge at Shen, giving him no time to react, and bashing his head lightly on the ground.  
The last thing Shen would hear before getting knocked unconscious was, “Well, at least you tried. I shall spare you for now. Become stronger, boy. So if we meet again in the future, the fight might not be as one sided as now.”  
Valhir would leave his body in a safe place, and rendezvous with Zurah and the others.  
“Oh hey, Valhir, how was things on your end of the battlefield?”  
“I’ll tell after we get the fuck out of this place, we just need to group up with the main force just outside the gate, disguised as merely farmers selling their goods.”

They’d make a dash for the main gate of Steelpoint, where the carriage is ready, waiting for them. They’d get in the carriage, and hide behind the goods.

“That was good work guys, we’ve eliminated at least a quarter of the Royal Guard?”  
“That was only a quarter??!” Akari would say, surprised that they’ve only eliminated a quarter of the Royal Guard.  
“So, what’re you going to do Kemuri? Are you gonna keep living life, in hiding, and constantly moving village to village, or are you going to do something?”  
Everyone would stay silent, till Kemuri would reply-  
“I will do something. I will start a revolution, gather all the people that are against the king and his forces, and finally, end the tyrannical, corrupt, and unjust rule the king has over Dogronland.”  
Zurah would place his hand on Kemuri’s shoulder and say,  
“And we’ll be here with you, every step of the way.”  
“And so will the Shaulsin military.”

And with that, the revolution begins.  
-END OF Chapter 11-


	12. Preparations

Chapter 12   
\- Preparations -  
The carriage they were in was headed towards the capital of Shaulsin, Haulgref. It’d take a while to get to Haulgref, but eventually, after a week of travelling, they made it to Haulgref.  
Kemuri would think to himself, “Damn, I haven’t been here since I stole that Glaive.”  
The carriage would abruptly stop, Zurah and the others would look outside the carriage, to see all the people, the houses, and the shops, it was nothing like in Dogronland, back in Dogronland it was dull; a cold place where the slightest action you do would get the nobles staring at you, with their harsh, cold eyes. They enter the castle, and head into a room, with the entire map of Etheria.  
Valhir would point at where Dogronland is located and say,  
“I’m sure you’re all familiar with most of the areas and routes in Dogronland.”  
“Uh, I’m not..” Zurah would say,  
“Huh? How come you don’t know boy?”  
“I was born in Storesva, isolated from the world.."  
"Ah, if that's the case then I’ll give you a brief summary of the history of corruption, and unjust killings that have been happening in Dogronland. Let's start with the less-serious ones first. In X189, a few months prior to the election of King Rafe, the previous king, a series of killings happened across the country, those being rival politicians, and people who were against his ideals. Next, in X200, a mass ban on races that weren’t related to humans was ordered. Anyone harboring any other race that wasn’t human, was to be immediately executed. And in that same year, tens of thousands of orc, elvish, dwarf, and kobold fugitives were hunted down, and either immediately killed, or enslaved. And then, in X219, they would make the Anti-Terror law, a law that makes it so if you speak up against the government in any sort of way, you’d be deemed a terrorist, and a threat to the country. And lastly, they started a war with our nation, Shaulsin, all for one reason. Power. Now, many of the villages in Dogronland are willing to join the revolution, it’s just that they’re scared, scared that we might not have the power, scared that we are too weak, too little against the might of the entire government. But we’re going to change that.”  
“How exactly are we going to change that? We’re just 7 people right now..”  
“We’ll start off small, going for military patrols, raiding small military outposts. Then, as we start recruiting people into this revolution, we can slowly go big, and eventually when we get big enough, I can slowly bring the Shaulsin military into the country, and help out with overthrowing the government. But before we hunt for military patrols and such, we need to train the ones that are inexperienced with actual battle. Those being: Zurah, Bianca, and Akari. Any questions about this?”  
“Why exactly do I need training?” Akari would scoff,  
“I’ve seen you fight, boy. You lack the stamina, and you can only create mere goblins with your ink magic, I have seen people who use ink magic make colossal golems, dragons, hydras, wyverns, being able to turn the tide of a battle just by doing that. Now do you get why you need the training, boy?”  
Akari would stay silent.  
“Any more questions?”  
Zurah would raise his hand saying, “How long will the training take exactly? Because we can’t just train for long periods of time while countless people in Dogronland are becoming slaves, being sold, or even ki-  
Zurah would get interrupted by Valhir, “Six months. That’s all the time we need to train you to a level where you can at least handle a platoon of Royal Guards, and a battalion of normal soldiers. Now, any further questions?”  
Bianca would raise her hand saying, “What’s going to be our training schedule?”  
“Well, that’s going to depend on who’s training you. For now, you all should get a good rest, tomorrow I’ll be telling you about your training schedules, and who’ll be the one training you. The maids will guide you to your rooms, be sure to wake up early tomorrow.”  
They’d all follow the maids to their rooms, as Zurah was about to enter his assigned room Valhir would approach him and say, “I can see that you have that Glaive.”  
“That Glaive??” Zurah would ask, confused as to why he was calling it that.  
“If you don’t mind me asking, what fusion element can you make?”  
“Uhm, I don’t really know..”  
“Alright then, I’m sure you’ll find out as your training progresses.”  
“Yeah.. I should probably head inside now, I really need to get some sleep..”  
“Sure thing, I’ll see you tomorrow morning then.”  
Zurah would enter his room and sleep.  
The next day, Zurah, Bianca, and Akari would line up outside at the training yard, with Valhir announcing who their training instructors would be.  
“Alright. Akari, your instructor will be Valerion. Bianca, yours will be Lazarus. And last but not least, Zurah, your instructor, will be me. Prepare for a fun time.” Valhir would say laughing maniacally.  
Their six month training would begin, little did they know, is that it would be six months of hell.  
-END OF Chapter 12-


	13. Fruits of Their Labor

Chapter 13  
\- Fruits of Their Labor -  
Six months after Zurah, Bianca, and Akari started training  
“Alright, since this is your last day training, we’ll do some sparring, to see how far you’ve come.”  
Bianca would ask, “Who are we going to spar against?”  
“You’re going spar against the person who taught you. The first ones to spar will be Bianca and Lazarus, next will be Akari and Valerion, and last will be Me and Zurah.”  
“Wait.. I’m against you??? Isn’t that a tad bit too overkill, ‘cause you know, you can turn any of your limbs into that of a dire-wolf..”  
“Don’t worry Zurah, I won’t be doing any of that. Instead, I’ll only use my lightning magic, and no weapons in hand. If you manage to land a hit on your trainer, you’ll win. But if your trainer manages to knock you to the ground, then he wins.”  
Lazarus would say while yawning, “Alright can we just get this over with, I wanna go back to eating, sleeping, and uh.. Doing stuff...”  
Bianca and Lazarus would get into a battle position, with Lazarus only using his fists and Bianca with training daggers.  
They’d circle each other, then suddenly, Lazarus would charge at Bianca, with her dashing away, while casting a fireball headed towards Lazarus.  
The fireball would appear to hit Lazarus, Bianca would laugh, saying “That was too easy, Lazarus.” But as she said that, Lazarus would come out of the smoke, charging at Bianca, then swiping at her legs, almost making her fall, but Bianca would just barely avoid his attack by jumping in the air.  
She’d counter, throwing her daggers at him, Lazarus would dodge but Bianca would make a long chain with her fire magic, using it to attempt to hit Lazarus, she’d almost hit him multiple times as the chain made of fire magic would dissipate.  
Lazarus would whisper to himself, “Hmph. She definitely got better.” As he’d use dark magic, absorbing the nearby shadows, concentrating those shadows into the palm of his hand, shooting waves of darkness towards Bianca, she’d try to block by making a wall of fire.  
Then suddenly, the area would be shrouded in darkness, with Bianca’s wall of fire being the only thing lighting the place up.  
Bianca would run, fearing that Lazarus could pop up behind her at any second. As she was running, she’d hit multiple walls, but as she kept running, she’d bump into Lazarus.  
“Hello there.” Lazarus would say. Bianca would start running, but Lazarus instantly appears in front of her, and he’d push her, knocking her to the ground.  
“Lazarus you may have won, but wasn’t that a bit too overkill?”  
“What do you mean, Valhir? That wasn’t even my full power, well whatever. Bianca, you’ve certainly improved a lot in these six months, all you need to work on is stamina, and as you continue fighting people, you’ll eventually see your skills improve.”  
“Alright, enough chit chat. Next up is Akari and Valerion.”  
Akari and Valerion would bow to each other before fighting, a tradition from where Valerion comes from.  
Akari would pull out his scroll and brush, and start drawing medium-sized orcs that would start chasing at Valerion. At first it’d seem like Valerion was struggling, but as more and more orcs swarmed him Valerion got stronger and stronger, until eventually, Akari would rush towards Valerion at extreme speeds.  
He’d attempt to jump kick Valerion, but Valerion would instantly react, grabbing Akari’s foot, and slamming him to the ground.  
“HEY! THAT’S TOO MUCH VALERION!”  
“What do you mean? I can just heal him back anyways..”  
“Yeah but..”  
“But what? I have the best healing magic in the continent!”  
Zurah would ask Valerion, “Really??!”  
“Yep, That’s why whenever I heal someone, it isn’t the usual green, but instead it's a fiery red.”  
“Ah, I see.”  
“Akari, you’ve gotten so much better in the span of six months, being able to draw and summon these fearsome orcs now. I bet you can handle a squad of Royal Guards all by yourself, all you need to do now is to improve your combat prowess, but I’m sure you’ll be able to improve that the more you fight.”  
“Alright. Zurah, you’re up.”  
Lazarus would put his hand on Zurah’s shoulder and say, “Goodluck.”  
They’d get into their respective positions, with Valhir eagerly awaiting Zurah’s move.  
Then suddenly, Zurah, Spear in hand, would charge at Valhir, swiping at his legs, aiming to immobilize his movements. Valhir would counter-attack by grabbing Zurah’s spear, ready to smash him to the ground. But just as Valhir was about to do that, Zurah would let go of his spear, using his light magic to blind Valhir while he’s distracted, and then, using his fire magic, enhancing his right hand, and punching him in the chest.  
Everyone in the training field would look in shock and awe, astonished by the fact that this was the first time one of Valhir’s apprentices won against him.  
“Did.. Valhir just.. Lose??” Lazarus would burst out in laughter, the man he’s always thought of as an older brother, losing to a boy they just met a few months prior.  
Valerion would whisper to himself, “Damn, that kid’s got talent I’ll give him that. Just imagine if he learns how to do fusion magic, that’d truly be terrifying.”  
“Not bad, kid. There’s still a lot of things you still need to work on, such as your fusion magic, but as of now, I’d say you’d be able to handle a battalion of Royal Guards. Now that the six month training is over, we can start our preparations on the revolution.”  
Zurah would interrupt him, saying, “Can I do something first?”  
“Sure, what is it?”  
“I’d like to pay my gramps a visit, he’s just in the nearby country, Storesva.”  
“Oh. If that’s the case, then go on ahead, while you’re gone, me and the others will start the preparations on the revolution.”  
A few hours later  
Zurah is finished packing his gear, making sure he has enough food to last a few days or weeks. He’d hop on his horse, and as he was about to leave, Kemuri would put his hand on Zurah’s shoulder and say,  
“Be Careful out there, you’re alone on this journey, so be wary of what dangers may lie ahead.”  
“I will, don’t worry Kemuri. Anyways, I should be off now, I should be back in a few days or weeks.”  
He’d leave the city of Haulgref, riding off to the sunset, while waving a good-bye to everyone seeing him off.  
-END OF Chapter 13-


	14. A Helping Hand

Chapter 14   
\- A Helping Hand -  
While the others were in a room planning for the upcoming revolution, someone would knock on the door.  
“WHO IS IT THIS TIME?! FUCK OFF IF IT ISN’T IMPORTANT!”  
“SIR THIS IS URGENT!!”  
“ALRIGHT, COME INSIDE THEN.”  
The scout would enter the room, saluting at Valhir.  
“SIR! DOGRONLAND FORCES HAVE SUCCESSFULLY CAPTURED STORESVA!”  
“THEY WHAT?! WHEN THE HELL DID THEY LAUNCH AN INVASION??!”  
“THEY INVADED JUST YESTERDAY, I WAS WITH FOUR OTHER PEOPLE, AND I WAS THE ONLY ONE TO MAKE IT OUT ALIVE, SIR!”  
“THOSE FUCKS, WE NEED TO WARN ZURAH! ULYSSEYS, GO, FIND ZURAH AND BRING HIM BACK HERE! IT’S NOT SAFE THERE ANYMORE!”  
“YES SIR!” Ulysseys would salute at Valhir, leaving the room, out to find his stallion.  
Ulysseys, with his stallion, would leave Haulgref, riding to find Zurah in Storesva.   
Meanwhile, Zurah approaches the border, occasionally stopping to enjoy the scenery of the surrounding area. He’d hear someone shouting nearby, “HELP US!!” getting closer, and closer, Zurah readies his Glaive.  
A group of villagers appear in front of Zurah. He’d stop them to ask, “What’s going on?!”  
“WE’RE GETTING CHASED BY SOLDIERS! PLEASE, HEL-” The villager talking would get interrupted, as he got shot by a magic arrow, infused with poison magic. The rest of the soldiers would surround Zurah and the other villagers. Zurah would count how many soldiers there are, staying in a defensive stance.  
The leader of the group of soldiers would step up and say, “Surrender, or DIE.”  
A villager would spit at the leader. “Go to hell you fucking dog!”  
“Kill them all.” The leader would say.  
As the group of soldiers were about to fire their magic arrows at them, Zurah would quickly use his light magic to blind the soldiers. While they were blinded, Zurah would knock the soldiers out, one by one, using his fire magic to boost his speed, but soon enough, they started to see again. They charge at Zurah, with one soldier restraining Zurah with ice magic, but Zurah would melt the ice, dodge their dagger attacks, and sweep one of the soldiers legs, causing him to fall, then knocking him unconscious with the opposite end of his Glaive.  
“You seem like a worthy opponent. Let’s have some fun now, shall we?”  
Their leader would charge at him with his longsword, with Zurah dodging the slow, but lethal attack. He’d counterattack, using his Glaive to block most of his attacks, punching his stomach, head, and swiping at his legs, making sure he doesn’t get back up, he’d use the opposite end of his Glaive to knock the leader unconscious. The remaining soldiers would flee, in fear of Zurah capturing them.  
One of the villagers would go up to Zurah, “Thank you.. But there are still soldiers in our village!”  
“Who were those people?”  
“They were Dogronland soldiers, just a few days ago they launched the invasion.”  
“WHAT?! HAS BRIDESVEIN BEEN INVADED YET??!”  
“...I’m not sure. Why are you asking?”  
“Because that’s my home.”  
“Well, if you lend us a helping hand and take back our village, I can go with you to Bridesvein to see if it’s been invaded yet.”  
“..Okay then, where exactly is your village?”  
“It’s just a few miles east in the village of Snowhear. We should be able to arrive there in half an hour.”  
“What’s your name by the way?”  
“It’s Samael, what’s yours?”  
“It’s Zurah.”  
“Alright Zurah, I’ll lead the way to the village.”

And so, they make their way towards Snowhear, making sure to avoid Dogronland patrols on the way there.

Half an hour later,  
“Here we are.” Zurah, Samael, and the other villagers would hide in the forest, waiting for the opportunity to charge at them.  
“Alright, we’ll charge on my mark. Three. Two. On-”  
“Stop! Not yet!”  
“What?! Why not!”  
“There's a Royal Guard there, and I’m not sure if you folks can handle that..”  
“Well then. You handle the Royal Guard, We’ll handle the normal soldiers.”  
“Alright.”  
Samael would pop out of the forest, in front of all the soldiers, and say “GO! GO!” Soon enough, the rest of the villagers would appear out of the forest.  
Suddenly, the Royal Guard would speak up, “What is the meaning of this?!”  
“Get out of our village, you bastards!”  
“HAH! Fools, do you really think you can defeat us?”  
“CHARGE!”  
Samael and the villagers would charge at the soldiers, keeping them busy enough for Zurah to defeat the Royal Guard.  
As the Royal Guard approaches the villagers, Zurah stops him.  
“That’s as far as you’ll go.”  
“Foolish boy, do you have a death wish?”  
“Do you? Stupid.”  
The Royal Guard would become enraged, charging at Zurah with his magic-amplified fists, he’d throw jabs to Zurah’s chest and face, but Zurah would just dodge, and with one swift strike, Zurah would uppercut the Royal Guard as he tried to punch Zurah, knocking the Royal Guard unconscious  
“Heh, seems like the training paid off.” But, as he looks behind him, he sees the villagers struggling to beat them, with only Samael being on par with the normal soldiers.  
Zurah would rush in to help them, blinding the soldiers, making them defenseless for just enough time for the villagers to kill them all. One by one, Zurah would be able to hear the clanging of their armor, until eventually, they won.  
“It looks like that's all of them.” Samael would sigh in relief, as the villagers would look around the town, and seeing that there were no more soldiers in the town, they started shouting and cheering, joyous of their victory against the soldiers.  
Samael would go up to Zurah, giving him a pat on the back and saying, “Alright, it seems it’s time to hold up my end of the bargain.”  
“We’re going already?!” Zurah would say in a shocked manner,  
“Yep.”  
“Wait, don’t you want to rest??”  
“Well, since Bridesvein is pretty far, we can take a few breaks on the way there.”  
A group of villagers would go up to the two, a sack of food and a few canisters of water in hand and say, “Well, since it’s going to be a long journey, you’ll probably be needing these.”  
“What?! No, I can’t accept these..”  
“What do you mean young boy? You saved our village. I’m sure you’ll be needing these.”  
Zurah would bow at the villagers, “Thank you so much!”  
A villager would smile and say, “It is our pleasure.”  
“Alright then, let's get going Zurah.”  
“Okay.”  
As they were leaving, an elderly lady would walk up to Zurah, putting her hand on his shoulder saying, “Young boy. You are destined for greatness. Please, free Storesva.”  
“I will. Don’t worry.”  
Samael and Zurah would proceed to leave the village, getting cheered on by the villagers.  
-END OF Chapter 14-


End file.
